Over the past few decades, there has been a significant interest in the preparation of polymers that originate from renewable resources, typically based upon carbohydrates or fatty acids, in order to diminish the dependence on petroleum products, and that can also undergo degradation, to reduce landfill accumulation of waste. Polycarbonates, especially those based upon bisphenol A, are a foundation material for engineering applications. Many of these polycarbonates, however, form bioresorbable degradation products that are toxic and/or carcinogenic. Degradable polymers also find use in biomedicine (e.g., sutures, orthopedic devices, tissue engineering, drug delivery devices, etc.), where incorporation of biocompatibility and biodegradability is important. For this purpose, the polymers used are typically of esters, which undergo hydrolysis to afford products containing carboxylic acid and alcohol groups, or carbonates, especially aliphatic carbonates that undergo hydrolytic degradation to give carbon dioxide and alcohols.
Recent demand for sustainable commodity plastics has prompted interest in the development of new classes of naturally-derived polymers. Naturally-derived polymers can be in the form of polymers that are isolated from nature, e.g. polysaccharides, polynucleic acids, polypeptides, etc. or may be produced by polymerization processes conducted upon naturally-derived monomers. Natural products are molecules that can be isolated from natural sources, such as fungi, bacteria, plants, or animals, etc. These molecules include sugars, amino acids, neolignans, cyclitols, flavinoids, and many others. An attractive characteristic of both natural and synthetic polymers derived from renewable feedstocks is that they can be degraded by photochemical, thermal, or hydrolytic means, to regenerate the natural precursors.
In the sports fishing industry, a wide array of equipment and accessories are created using a variety of synthetic materials. Discarded and lost fishing tackle causes pollution, kills wildlife, and endangers humans in bodies of water around the world. For instance, it has been previously found that wild fish regularly eat soft plastic lures that litter their environment, which can lead to death by clogging the digestive system of the fish. Many commercial soft plastic lures also can leach dangerous chemicals, such as phthalates, over time. These issues are magnified significantly when considered on a global scale; some estimate that as much as 20 million pounds of lure material are lost each year.